01/28/2013

Rick Carlisle warned the Dallas Stars about this schedule

DALLAS, Texas - Rick Carlisle does not know too much about hockey, but he does know a few things about coaching old guys.

When the NHL's lockout finally ended one of the first people Dallas Stars coach Glen Gulutzan leaned on was Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. Last season, Carlisle had the pleasures of trying to coach a veteran team through a compressed 66-game regular season schedule.

"He knew when they first started, he said, we knew we were going to get crushed in the beginning," Gulutzan said. "But, he said, 'We knew because they were older guys what we could do to get them up and running.' The beginning was going to hurt them, but because they were older guys they didn't need to practice as much. Once they got into game shape they would be OK."

The Stars are in Columbus, Ohio tonight to play the Blue Jackets and will be in Detroit on Tuesday night to play the Red Wings. The Stars' game on Tuesday night will be their second appearance in that tourist trap city in seven days.

How are their old guys holding up thus far in this 48-game season? Veteran Ray Whitney appears to be OK. Veteran forward Jaromir Jagr is already nursing a sore back, and center Derek Roy has a groin issue. In fairness, most men always have some sort of groin issue, hence the need for deep pockets.

Carlisle told Gulutzan the team made sure to give their veteran players a longer time to stretch and warm up before practices, tried to monitor rest periods and looked at how the players could sleep.

"We are not looking at it in a 48-game schedule - we are looking at it this week and what they do in this compressed time," Gulutzan said.